Warm winter nights for homeless Australians
AGL Warmth in Winter support frees up valuable funds that can be redirected to services which directly assist homeless and vulnerable Australians.
As a provider of energy to more than 3 million homes across the country, Energy for Life's AGL Warmth in Winter initiative is our way of assisting those Australians who may not enjoy the comfort and security of a warm home each night.
Since 2004 AGL Warmth in Winter has been helping to fund the winter energy bill of emergency accommodation services in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and, since 2007, Queensland. Since the program’s inception, AGL Warmth in Winter has funded more than 630,000 warm winter nights for homeless Australians. Our support to these facilities frees up valuable funds that can be redirected to services which directly assist their clients.
And as responding to climate change becomes a growing priority for all of us, AGL Warmth in Winter also funds a number of energy assessments and installations of energy efficient retrofits for selected emergency accommodation services, helping them to make ongoing reductions to their energy consumption and costs.
Thank you to everyone who applied to the 2009 AGL Warmth in Winter program. We received an overwhelming response this year with a 57% increase in applications. As a result this year, AGL Warmth in Winter will support 254 emergency accommodation sites across 75 organisations in NSW, Victoria, ACT, South Australia and Queensland, providing an equivalent of over 112,000 warm winter nights for homeless Australians.
Through AGL Warmth in Winter, we also fund a number of energy audits to selected emergency accommodation services. In 2008, six shelters were selected to receive an energy audit with AGL funding the purchase and implementation of energy efficient appliances to help them identify ways to permanently reduce their energy costs and to make further sustainable energy savings.
We are in the process of selecting the emergency accommodation facilities that will receive an energy audit and installation of energy efficient savings in the coming months.